Accidents Happen
by ArnoldThePigmyPuff
Summary: Hermione was alone it the library late one night when she hears a bump come from a few aisles over.
1. Chapter 1

She sat quietly fully engrossed by the tomb that encompassed her lap. The book was dusty and old, with cracked, yellowed pages and the beautiful scent that only old books can have. Every once and a while the she would move only slightly too carefully turn the page. It had started raining since she had arrived in the library and settled down by the window, but Merlin knows if she even noticed. The vast collection of books and shelves were empty, most students had elected to retreat to their common rooms by now.

The only sound that could be heard was the pitter pattering of rain on the window and the occasional wisp of the turning page. The young witch was ripped from her enthrallment when a loud thump and yelp came out of the stacks not far away. She jumped to her feet, the book falling to the floor forgot. Running in the direction of the noise, quickly finding the origin of the noise in lean, blond boy sprawled out on the floor.

A lean blond boy who happened to be bleeding profusely from the head, a lean blond boy who happened to be Draco Malfoy bleeding profusely from the head.

Before she could even think, before she could realize that this was _Draco Malfoy _, the boy who had be making her life hell for no good reason since first year, Hermione had run to his side. Her instinct kicking in before she could decide if she even really wanted to help him. She was down on her knees beside him looking for something to stem the bleeding. Looking over her shoulder she noticed a cloak, presumably his lying on the desk to her right. She grabbed it holding it to his head to try and stop the bleeding.

"Oh Merlin, Malfoy are you alright? Malfoy? Can you hear me?" She pleaded, trying to get some sort of response out of him. His eyes were open, but glazed over as he stared off into the distance.

"Malfoy? Please say something, anything, what happened to you?" she asked.

She could feel him begin to stir, sitting up slightly and moving his arm gesturing to the large book lying on the ground a few feet away. "I ahhh… that book was heavy…" he tried to explain, but the words were coming out garbled and strained.

This was a little too much effort for his current straight and he quite swiffly passed out on the dark, wooden library floor.

"I… ummm… okay, I've got to get him to the hospital wing, calm okay I can do this." She said aloud, but it was more for her own comfort.

Slowly she shifted him, lifting his back off the floor and trying to get her shoulder under hers so that she could pull him to his feet. However he wouldn't budge, she realized that there was no way he was getting him to stand. There was also no way she could drag him there, he was too heavy and like this I would be all dead weight.

"Okay, you can handle this," she said aloud. _You can leave him here, rest his head on the cloak and go find someone to help, _she thought, _but what if he's sick or something and drowns in his own vomit, that happens sometimes doesn't it?_ _Come on Hermione you are the brightest witch of you age think of something!_

Outwardly groaning she remembers, _witch Hermione, you are a witch. _Standing up and leatting the cloak drop the the ground, Hermione raised her wand she points it at the uncontious Malfoy and utters "_Moblicorpus."_

Malfoys body slowly levitated off the floor. Pointing her wand towards the large oaken doors of the library, she and Malfoy were soon out of the library and racing towards the hospital wing.

Arriving at the hospital wing Hermione burst through the doors with Malfoys comatose body floating in not far behind. Slowing, she pointed her wand at a bed at the end of the row. Malfoy slowly lifted up and the fell softly on to the crisp linen.

Once she is sure he won't fall of the bed to his untimely dimiss Hermione ran over to the door of Madame Pomfreys office and sharply rapped her knuckles against the door. "Madame Pomfrey! Please! I need your help!" she shouted, hoping that the nurse had decided to stay up late, instead of turning in. Hermione was in luck, as a rather frazzled looking woman quickly emerged from behind the door.

"Miss Granger, shouldn't you be in your common room?" She inquired.

"No… well, yes but it doesn't matter." She said, pointing at Malfoys passed out frame on the bed.

"My word Miss Granger what did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything! I was in the library, and I heard a noise and when I went to go see what it was I found him lying on the floor! And he was bleeding and I couldn't just leave him there!" Hermione retorted franticly.

Madame Pomfrey quickly began to check over Malfoys injures. She quickly healed the wound on his head with the quick muttering of a healing spell. Opening his eyelids and checking pulse and other vital signs came next.

Hermione watched closely, standing off to the side to make sure she didn't get in the way. Her heart pounded in her chest. There was no way anyone was dying on her watch, even if that anyone was Draco Malfoy. "Is he going to be alright?" she asked after what seemed to be hours.

"He should be fine. He has a slight concussion but it is nothing that I can't handle." Replied Madame Pomfrey. Hermione moved closer to the bed, looking at the dark purple bruise forming underneath the blood stained platinum hair.

"Okay, good. Thank you." She mumbled turning away to leave the library.

"Miss Granger, do you want me to tell Mr. Malfoy that it was you who brought him in when he awakes?" The nurse queried.

"Umm… No I think it would be better not too. Thank you again." She responded. Slowly Hermione made her way out of the hospital and slowly back to the library with the intent of gathering her things and finally going back to the common room.

Arriving in the library, she realized that Malfoys bag and cloak were also left behind. Heading over to the aisle in which she had found him, Hermione nearly tripped over the book that lay forgotten on the floor. The book that she presumed had fallen onto Malfoy head. Picking it up she slipped it under her arm and went to fetch his other things. She returned to where she was sitting and picked up her own cloak and bag and headed for the door.

Before leaving she left malfoys belongings at the front desk in hopes that he would find them there tomorrow. She also magically cleaned the now dried blood off of the cloak. She didn't leave the book though. _What could he have been looking for? It is a little late for normal studying. _She though. Quickly she slid the book into her own book bag, resolving to look at it in the morning. Quietly she then left the library and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

A/N: Okay so I kinda new at this, and I have never written a chapter fic before. BUT I have an idea of where I want to take this, so if anyone is willing to read it I would be greatful to hear from you! Thanks ~Katie


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Okay, tells us again what happened, this time remembering to breathe." Grunted Ron, through a mouthful of oatmeal. The great hall was packed with student hurriedly getting breakfast before class.

"Alright," Hermione started, but was cut short by the loud squeaking and flapping noise of the owls that had just entered the hall. A large barn owl gracefully swooped down and landed in the baskets of muffins sitting in front of her. Attached to its leg was a folded piece of cream coloured parchment with her name marked on it in curvy black letters. Detaching the letter from the claw of the owl Hermione stuffed it into her pocket for later reading, and the owl flew off out of the hall.

"Who's it from?" Harry enquired.

"Probably Flitwick, he keeps asking me to tutor this group of third years." She replied, "Back to last night. I was in the library, and it was later then I though, I got lost reading this great book about what was happening in the Wizarding World during the French Revolution. Did you know that a lot of historical Wizarding events sort of mirror muggle ones, for instant…" She did not get to finish as Harry quickly cut in.

"Hermione, you're getting off topic, back to the library please."

"Okay, umm, right. I was in the library and it was late. Then I heard this thumb coming from a couple of rows over, because no one is supposed to be there that late. I walked over and Malfoy was just lying there, bleeding from the head. And he was kind of unconscious so I took him to the hospital wing, and I went back to the library and grabbed my stuff. Also there was this book lying on the ground where he fell. I'm pretty sure he was reaching for it and it hit him, and that's why he was hurt." She said a slightly confused but distressed look on her face.

"What was the book about?" Asked Harry.

"I didn't get a chance to look at it. But I picked it up, it's upstairs in the dormitory. I'm going to look through it later; maybe it will give us a clue as to what he has been up too." She answered.

Ron had grown quiet, he's head bowed. "Why? Why'd you help him Hermione?" he said, raising his eyes to look at her. "He's been making our lives hell for years."

"He hasn't been that mean to us this year, he's barely acknowledged our existence." She retorted.

"He broke Harry nose on the train!" Ron's voice grew louder.

"Well besides that!" She huffed, lowering her own voice to not attracted attention. "I couldn't just leave him there Ronald. If it makes you feel any better, I doubt he even knows it was me, he was unconscious." With a puff she rose to her feet. "I'll look at the book during lunch, see if there's anything strange about it. I'll see you both in Potions, we can talk about it then, goodbye." With a sharp turn she quickly shuffled out of the Great Hall.

Hermione hurried up the worn spiral stairs that lead to the Girls' Dormitory in Gryffindor Tower. Upon reaching the door she tossed her Ancient Runes homework on the foot of the bed and sat down. She threw her legs up onto the bed, and turned upside down with her head dangling off the side. From here she could clearly see the underside of her four-poster. Rummaging around the old quills and fallen pieces of parchment that made up an ample mess under the bed, one she was not very proud of as it went against her normal, very organized life, she found the book she had taken from the library floor.

She had hidden it under the bed, away from the prying eyes of Parvati and Lavender. While they did not normally care about what ever tome Hermione was currently reading, she did not want either of them to stumble across it. Without being able to previously go through it, Hermione was concerned it could contain some sort of horrific magic. Something that either Lavender or Parvati may think is slightly more interest or gossip worthy than _Hogwarts a History._

Grabbing the book, Hermione sat upright in her bed, legs tucked underneath her. She placed the book in her lap and really looked at it for the first time. It was heavy, definitely heavy enough to knock someone out. It was bound in old leather, the cover smooth but cracking around the edges. The pages were yellow and slightly torn, a few pages blotted with spilled ink and pumpkin juice. Despite its age and wear the book was still in relatively good condition, from what she could tell there were no missing pages, and the writing was still legible.

Turning to the front cover, she read in embossed gold flaked letters: _A Myriad of Mirages _By Gordon Genevieve . Flipping to a random page, Hermione found herself looking at an illustration of man shimmering, half of his body depicted covered in scales of a sea green hue, the other half perfectly human. The text below gave a brief description of the spell.

_occulta squamas: provides full coverage of unsightly scalage caused by curses, poisons, potions, mermaid bites, and unfortunate rashes. This spell lasts up to two days when preformed correctly. The wearer should avoid birch bark, toads, and salt water, as they can all nullify the incantation. _

Skimming through other pages, Hermione found more of the same, spells that would allow the wizard or witch to alter their appearance. Mostly they were for blending in, pretending to appear like a normal human. A lot of them were for an entire body, but some also focused on small areas. There were spells for covering scars, burns, unsightly fur, even tattoos.

That was it! Hermione knew why Malfoy had wanted this book, quickly she grabbed a piece of parchment from her pocket and stuffed it into her place in the pages. She quickly shoved the book into her bag, leapt from the bed and ran down the stars towards the dungeons.


End file.
